Boris Johnson said the Conservative Party endured a “tough night” as Labour made historic gains in London and the Liberal Democrats enjoyed a strong performance.
The Prime Minister said he took full responsibility for the results as local Tories blamed public anger over Downing Street lockdown parties for the losses.
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Sir Keir Starmer hailed a “turning point” for Labour but it was a mixed set of results for the party.
Labour gained three councils in London - Wandsworth, Barnet and Westminster - with the latter having been controlled by the Conservatives since it was first created in 1964.
The party also won control of Southampton, Worthing and the new Cumberland authority which will replace Carlisle City Council.
However, they also lost control of Hull to the Liberal Democrats, failed to retake full control of Sheffield City Council and in Hartlepool, where the party hoped to make a comeback, the Tories gained two seats.
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Despite Labour picking up historical seats in London, the party lost control of Harrow council to the Conservatives.
Sir Keir was also later hit by the news that Durham Police will investigate whether he breached lockdown rules last year.
The U-turn follows mounting pressure on the force to re-examine the allegations after footage emerged of the Labour leader drinking a beer with reportedly up to 30 colleagues at a constituency office in Durham in April 2021 during campaigning for the Hartlepool by-election.
Key results in the local elections:
- Labour gained Westminster, Wandsworth and Barnet in London
- Labour held on to control of Sunderland - a council it has run since 1973
- Labour also won a comfortable majority in the newly created authority of Cumberland
- Two gains were enough for Labour to win a slim majority in Rossendale in Lancashire
- Labour claimed victory in West Dunbartonshire after making four gains
- Labour won control of one of its top targets, Southampton, from the Conservatives
- The Conservatives kept control of Nuneaton & Bedworth and took another seat from Labour
- The Conservatives lost control of both Worcester and Tunbridge Wells to no overall control
- The Liberal Democrats claimed a majority in Hull, dislodging Labour
Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to a school in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, Mr Johnson said it had been a “mixed set of results” for the Tories.
“It is mid-term,” he said.
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“We had a tough night in some parts of the country but on the other hand in other parts of the country you are still seeing Conservatives going forward and making quite remarkable gains in places that haven’t voted Conservative for a long time, if ever.”
However David Simmonds, the Tory MP for neighbouring Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, said the issue of lockdown rule-breaking in Downing Street had kept coming up on the doorstep.
“He (Mr Johnson) needs to find a way to restore confidence in the Government and I think there’s a number of ways he might do that,” he told the PA news agency.
“A change of leader would be one of them. Alternatively he needs to demonstrate what the alternative plan would be.”
Here are the latest updates from the Local Elections 2022:
Local election results live
Tories lose their only Welsh council
The Conservatives have lost control of their single Welsh council area.
Monmouthshire has turned red, with Labour gaining 12 seats from the Tories in the local election.
Alongside gaining Manmouthshire, Labour has also picked up control of two councils in Blaenau Gwent and Bridgend, while holding Caerphilly, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Newport and Torfaen.
Plaid Cymru also made three council gains in Anglesey, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, while also retaining Gwynedd.
Tories gain Harrow from Labour
Despite Labour making some historical gain in London, the Conservatives have picked up one city seat from the party.
Tories have gained control of Harrow council, which had previously been under Labour control.
The Conserivative won 31 seats in the borough, while Labour picked up 24.
SNP finishes as biggest party in Scotland with Labour in second place
The SNP have finished as the biggest party in the Scottish council elections, with Scottish Labour gaining second place at the hand of the Tories.
Nicola Surgeon’s party won 454 council seat, up 23, with Labour winning 281 seats, up 19.
The Conservatives saw a huge drop in support in Scotland, losing 62 of their council seats, bringing their total to 215.
The SNP declared an overall majority in Dundee, while also becoming the largest party in Edinburgh, Falkirk, Stirling and other key locations.
Labour, who finished third in the race behind the Tories in the 2019 local elections, fought a close race against the SNP in some areas, coming just one seat behind the party in Glasgow.
Lib Dems gain control of new Westmorland and Furness unitary authority
The Liberal Democrats have gained control of the new Westmorland and Furness unitary authority. With 62 of the 65 results declared, the Lib Dems have won 36, Labour 14, the Conservatives 10 and Independents two.
Labour wins control of Worthing in West Sussex
Labour has won control of Worthing in West Sussex, winning 10 seats to take its total to 23, with the Conservatives on 12 and one Independent. The council was previously under no overall control.
Lib Dems gain control of new Somerset unitary council
The Liberal Democrats have gained control of the new Somerset unitary council. With 94 results declared, the party has won 56 seats on the 110-member authority.
Labour: Results show ‘we have got back on our feet again'
Labour is back on its feet again, the shadow attorney general has said.
Emily Thornberry MP told Sky News that the local election results were at the “top end” of what Labour was hoping for.
“I’m not saying that we haven’t got a huge amount of work to do”.
“But I think that if you think about the morning after, or the week after, 2019, how bad it was, people were saying to us that it was pretty much the end of the Labour Party, we weren’t ever going to get back on our feet again.
“This shows that we have got back on our feet again.
“Of the presentations that we’ve had, and the discussions that we’ve had in the shadow cabinet, this is definitely at the top end of what we were hoping was going to happen.”
Senior Tory MP calls for Boris Johnson to go
Veteran Tory MP Sir Roger Gale said the time has come for Boris Johnson to go, notwithstanding the situation in Ukraine.
The MP for North Thanet submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister in 2020, but subsequently said it was not the right time for a leadership election, given the conflict with Russia.
“I think that the game has moved on since then… probably.
“I was, as you know, not in favour of a leadership challenge in the middle of a war, but two things have happened: one, it’s now clear, I think, that the hostilities in Ukraine are going to be prolonged; and second, in a sense what Roger Gale thinks is immaterial because this movement has got a life of its own now – it may become an unstoppable tide.”
MSP: Early results in Scotland ‘really disappointing’ for Tories
Early results for the Scottish Conservatives in local elections have been “really disappointing”, one of the party’s frontbenchers at Holyrood said, adding the Tories will “lick our wounds and move on”.
Speaking to the PA news agency from the Edinburgh count, Miles Briggs said the party has suffered from protest votes – with some supporters choosing to stay at home rather than back the Tories at the ballot box.
“We knew it was going to be challenging, we’ve known that for a couple of weeks now. I’m personally disappointed with the results which have come in so far.
“Some seats which we won five years ago we are now holding, which is really good to see.
“There’s some good news but it’s really disappointing.
“From the work I did yesterday with my activists here in Edinburgh, it’s quite clear that people weren’t going to go to vote.
“They were protesting voting by not going to any other party, or when they’ve gotten their postal votes they hadn’t returned them and put them in the bin.
“It has depended on how people want to send a message. You either go and vote for someone else or you don’t vote at all.”
PM: ‘Important that we continue to support the balance of Good Friday Agreement across Northern Ireland’
Asked about the elections in Northern Ireland, Boris Johnson said “the most important thing is that we continue to support the balance of the Good Friday Agreement across all communities in Northern Ireland”.
Speaking on a visit to a school in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he was asked by reporters about the possibility of a majority of people in Northern Ireland voting for parties that support the current trading arrangements with the EU, and if he will work with those parties to make the Northern Ireland Protocol work.
Mr Johnson said: “The most important thing is that we continue to support the balance of the Good Friday Agreement across all communities in Northern Ireland. That’s what we’re going to do. And whatever arrangements we have, they have got to have cross-community support, that’s what the Good Friday Agreement is all about, that’s what the Government is going to do.
“But as for the rest… we’ll have to wait and see what the results are in Northern Ireland.”